New Sinhala colonisation-scheme introduced along border villages of Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 July 2017, 23:36 GMT]The District Secretariats of Sinhala Government Agents of Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province and Vavuniyaa District in the Northern Province are silently implementing a Sinhala colonisation scheme along the borders of Vavuniyaa, Anuradhapura and Mullaiththeevu, says NPC Councillor T. Ravikaran, who hails from Mullaiththeevu district. The Divisional Secretariat of Ma'nal-aa'ru, a division which has been completely Sinhalicised in Mullaiththeevu district and the divisional secretariats bordering Mullaiththeevu district with Anuradhapura and Vavuniyaa districts have introduced new schemes with settlement packages. Traditional Tamil villages and the jungles adjoining the bordering Sinhala villages are being targeted with ethnic Sinhala settlements while the uprooted Tamil people are struggling for resettlement in the villages without infrastructure assistance, he said.

There are at least 2,000 landless Tamil families in Mullaiththeevu district alone, Mr Ravikaran told TamilNet.

But, Sinhala colonies are being schemed completely depriving Tamils from the ‘settlement packages’ now being offered through selective Divisional Secretariats, he said.

The Sinhala colonists are being encouraged to settle with 1/4 acre of residential lands with a house, 1 acre of agricultural lands, assistance to construct a well, 2 goats and 1 sewing machine as a package per family.

Hundreds of Sinhala colonists have applied through Divisional Secretariats and they have started to clear lands along the jungle areas already, Ravikaran said.

The location of the newly Sinhalicised division in the Mullaiththeevu district that will be wedging North and East, created after erasing out traditional Tamil villages and renaming it from Ma'nalaa'ru in Tamil to Weli-Oya in Sinhala. [Satellite image courtesy: Google Earth. Legend by TamilNet]

“This is not an old scheme from the Rajapaksa times. This is being implemented in recent times in a selective manner under the Maithiripala government,” he said.

In addition, 2nd and 3rd generation of Sinhala settlers in the border areas have also been demanding lands.

Maithiripala regime is also accelerating Sinhala colonisation through ‘Mahaweli L scheme’ in the same area.

The trend has already been witnessed in Trincomalee, in Pulmoaddai and in Thiriyaay.